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There is no question that Pep Guardiola ranks among the greatest managers in football history, but the Catalan has not built that success without serious disagreements with certain players along the way.

Guardiola is widely regarded as one of the most exacting coaches in the game, and his highly detailed methods have not always gone down well with every member of his squads.

That was also true during his 10-year spell at Manchester City. Here is a look at nine players who are known to have fallen out with Guardiola.

Kyle Walker appeared to feel the full force of Guardiola’s frustration, which was reportedly influenced by divorce-related issues, and responded to his manager after a defeat to Liverpool in 2024.

The full-back, who won every trophy available under Guardiola, was moved on soon afterwards. It seemed the City manager was dealing with two divorces at the same time.

Guardiola made it clear that nobody was untouchable when he allowed Joao Cancelo to leave on loan for Bayern Munich in January 2023.

At the time, it looked like a bold call, especially because that was one area of his squad that was not packed with elite alternatives.

That was particularly striking because Cancelo had looked like one of the finest full-backs in world football, one of City’s most inventive and dangerous players, and one of the first names on the teamsheet as they won back-to-back Premier League titles.

But Guardiola was ultimately proved right; his side knocked Cancelo’s Bayern out of the Champions League and were on course for a historic treble. Cancelo, who?

Reports later suggested that Cancelo, who had slipped behind Rico Lewis and Nathan Ake in the pecking order, had become a disruptive figure in the dressing room.

The 29-year-old told Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola: “Lies were told. I was never a bad companion for them and you can ask either Ake or Rico. I don’t have any superiority or inferiority complex towards them.

“I think Manchester City were a bit ungrateful to me when they said that because I was a very important player in the years I was there. I never failed in my commitment to the club, to the fans. I always gave everything.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

“You bought a Ferrari, but you drive it like a Fiat.”

Those were the famous words used by Ibrahimovic after his time working under Guardiola in 2009.

Barcelona paid £59million to sign Ibrahimovic in 2009, but it did not take long for tensions to emerge between the two. The striker lasted only one season in Spain before returning to Italy.

“As a coach, he was fantastic,” Ibrahimovic explained. “As a person, I’ve no comments about that, that’s something else. He’s not a man, there’s nothing more to say.”

“My experience with Pep at Barcelona was what it was, but on a personal level it wasn’t what we hoped for. Many players have said the same about him.”

Samuel Eto’o was another star forward with whom Guardiola struggled to build a strong personal bond. Eto’o eventually had the last laugh as his Inter side stopped Barcelona from defending the Champions League in 2020, beating them in the semi-finals.

The striker once said: “I can’t compare Mourinho to Guardiola, one of them couldn’t win the Champions League with Bayern Munich and the other one did it with Porto.”

Alexander Hleb’s time at Barcelona was hugely underwhelming, as he managed only 19 league appearances before being sent out on a number of loan spells.

Although Hleb and Guardiola did not get along at the time, Hleb’s opinion of the manager has mellowed over the years and he has since acknowledged his own errors.

He told a Russian sports programme: “I didn’t regret my move to Barcelona. However, after I left Barca, I actually started to feel it. But honestly, I’m the one to blame. There were changes in my personal life, I was nervous, I didn’t listen to anyone.

“When Guardiola told me to learn Spanish, I took his words aggressively and kept my collision course. Surely, what coach would put up with all this stuff?

“In the long run, everything was going wrong. We won the Champions League in 2009 but I was upset even then: I played all the games before the final and was left out of the squad for the crucial game. I didn’t expect that to happen. I wanted to punch him after the game.

“Now I’m calm, I understand him well. If I were Pep, I would do just the same.”

Yaya Toure criticised Guardiola in an interview with France Football, saying: “When you realise that he has problems with Africans, wherever he goes, I ask myself questions.”

Since making those remarks, Toure has taken a more apologetic stance towards the Spanish manager and said he regretted what he originally said.

Toure later told The Athletic: “When something happens that is wrong and you make a mistake, or people use your name and use you to do some wrong stuff, you have to make it OK.

“This one was wrong. I want to apologise for what happened, I want to apologise for doing something wrong.”

Guardiola worked with Toure at both Barcelona and Manchester City, yet he never truly seemed to get the best out of the Ivory Coast midfielder.

It is worth remembering that Joe Hart was once among the best shot-stoppers in Europe. The goalkeeper, a two-time Premier League winner, was a popular figure at the Etihad.

Hart revealed a conversation he had with Guardiola when the manager first arrived in Manchester. The goalkeeper told The Stiffs podcast: “It was a two-hour conversation that kind of ended with him saying, ‘I can’t see this working’.

“I thought that might be the idea. ‘I don’t agree with you,’ he said. ‘I’ll be the first person to be proved wrong but what I see in you isn’t what I want from my goalkeeper.’

“I was like, ‘It’s all very well saying that, but I’ve never been asked to do the kind of things I know you like goalkeepers to do, so I think it’s only fair I be given the opportunity.”

Claudio Bravo quickly replaced Hart in the Manchester City side, and Hart was never able to return to the same level of consistency.

Guardiola spent one season working with Cesc Fabregas at Barcelona, and since then some notable details have emerged about their relationship.

Fabregas admitted in 2020: “No (relationship now), no, with Pep nothing at all. I don’t know if the disappointment with Pep is mutual. Things happened, but I prefer not to talk about it.

“Pep was my idol since I was a child. It is him I have learned the most (from), perhaps, since I was four until now.”

This awkward meeting between the pair makes much more sense now.

Guardiola won three league titles in a row during his time at Bayern Munich, although not everybody appreciated his methods.

Former Bayern defender Dante told Sport: “He doesn’t speak with you. As a player you don’t know what situation you’re in. There are coaches that from a tactical point of view are world class but on a human level they’re not so good. That is the case with Guardiola”